Nov. 12, 2006 - Individual Property Pages |
I had toyed with the idea of individual property pages for my listings once upon a time but surrendered for a number of reasons, most technical and involving the scripts my sites runs. Without getting into details, it was rather cumbersome to add a new page to the system every time I had a new listing; until I found a shorter method, one that preferably allowed me to use the property address as part of the URL as a subdomain, I was going to let the blog page suffice.
Tonight I finally finished the template for the new-and-improved listing page, using my listing at 18378 W. Paseo. I'm going to populate the links at the bottom of the page over the next couple of days - of all the technology I do have, the one thing I don't have is a reliable PDF creator and that's the one thing I need. But the overall style and look will remain consistent.
These also ought to work well for the search engines. Even the simple blog page served it's purpose, at least on Yahoo.
Check out the page when you have a chance and let me know what you're think. As with everything on the Internet, it's a work in progress.
(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton's Arizona Homes |
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Sep. 5, 2006 - MLS reality |
On at least three occasions I've started writing entries about the Multiple Listing Service, or MLS. There have been multiple attempts of late to turn the MLS into a public utility, a real-estate swap meet where all possible homes for sale are listed. The theory is flawed for several reasons, which I had been wanting to discuss. Fortunately, Thomas Stevens, the president of the National Association of Realtors, took care of the discussion for me:
MLS: The essential difference
Guest perspective: Interbroker cooperation defines the system Tuesday, September 05, 2006
By Thomas M. Stevens
Thomas Stevens, NAR president
Ever since brokers and Multiple Listing Services began posting abridged versions of MLS listings on the Internet some 15 years ago and real estate consumers have been able to see for themselves what's available in their neighborhoods, the public has confused MLSs with online auction sites like eBay or electronic classified ads like CraigsList. To the layperson, the MLS looks like any other marketplace where properties are bought and sold. But nothing could be farther from the truth.
What makes MLSs special is not just that they introduce extraordinary efficiencies into the real estate transaction, or that they level the playing field so that the newest, smallest, greenest broker has just as much ability to profit from the system as the biggest guy in town. Even the fact that they are probably the safest databases on the Internet -- thanks to the standards of quality and care exhibited by the organizations that own and run them -- is not the single most distinguishing feature of MLSs.
What makes MLSs unique in the business world is that they exist first to facilitate cooperation between brokers, and that includes interbroker compensation.
Lately a number of people -- among them those who don't understand the MLS system at all and those who do but would like to change it to fit their own agenda -- have voiced concerns with the principle of a seller's broker compensating a buyer's agent. They believe the practice is anachronistic, illogical, or that it should be ended because it raises suspicions among federal regulators who, in my opinion, truly do not understand how and why the system works.
To eliminate interbroker cooperation in the MLS is to eliminate the MLS as we know it today. Once compensation offers are stripped from the system, no longer is there a significant reason for the MLS to remain a broker-to-broker system and it can become what so many outsiders would like it to be -- a simple database that can be opened to all and mined for the value resident in the real estate listings it contains. Welcome to the MLS as a public utility.
There can be no doubt that stripping compensation from the MLS will make interbroker cooperation infinitely more difficult. What the current crop of reformers fails to recognize is the value the current system brings to the buyer and the buyer's agent. The current system has made the proliferation of buyer's agency possible, and with it, the vital benefits of professional representation for home buyers, especially first-time home buyers.
Consider for a moment the importance of buyer's agency -- and interbroker compensation -- to the cause of minority home ownership in America. Progress toward parity in home ownership has been excruciatingly slow, and now the housing economy is slowing it even more. Interest rates are ramping up in response to the Fed's policies to check inflation, and many expect rates on a 30-year fixed mortgage to exceed 7 percent. Higher rates coupled with high property values make it more difficult than ever for lower- and middle-income families to cross the threshold of their first home.
Now comes the Consumer Federation of America with a proposal that will make minority home ownership even harder to achieve. CFA would restrict the ability of sellers to offer partial commissions to buyers' agents to pay for their services in the real estate transaction, forcing buyers to be responsible for some or all of the cost of professional representation. The result could be that buyers' agents would not be paid from proceeds of the transaction received by the seller but by fees charged directly to buyers. For thousands of lower-income and minority buyers, professional help would be out of the question under these conditions.
The CFA plan, proposed in a white paper issued June 19, would also have a devastating impact on the small but growing corps of minority agents and brokers that specializes in turning minority renters into homeowners. Those professionals help their customers access an extensive array of services such as credit counseling and home-ownership education. Without help from those professionals, people unfamiliar with the home-ownership transaction may never make it over the financial and cultural hurdles standing between them and their first American Dream.
Don't get me wrong: We believe in change. The MLS has evolved over the years to meet the needs of the marketplace and will continue to do so.
At NAR, we have created a Presidential Advisory Group to look at the future of the MLS, and the PAG will consider a wide range of options on handling compensation. It's anticipated (but not guaranteed) that a report with recommendations will be made to me at the Convention in November. The PAG has met with people from outside the Realtorfamily like Michael Adelbeg of Google and Pete Flint of Trulia. I'm sure that its findings will make a very positive contribution to the debate -- and foster changes that will improve the service that MLSs provide for consumers and the industry alike.
Thomas M. Stevens
President
National Association of Realtors
Just to emphasize, listing a home in the MLS doesn't guarantee it will sell any more than a furniture dealer placing a certain sofa on the display floor guarantees that sofa will sell. Comprehensive marketing, in conjunction with proper pricing, is what leads homes to sell - not entry into the mysterious MLS portal.
What sets Craigslist and other similar forums apart is there is no accountability, no way of tracking to see how effective a given method may be. It's this lack of accountability that allows online companies such as ForSaleByOwner.com, Owners.com, et al, to continue soliciting business without providing concrete facts as to the effectiveness of their marketing. What they tell sellers is homes will appear on the MLS and they prey upon the sellers' assumption that an MLS listing is sufficient.
As I've discussed before in this blog, I have had listings in the MLS expires. Every agent who ever has had more than one listing has had expired listings. Sometimes it's due to market conditions, sometimes it's due to pricing and sometimes it's due to the marketing not reaching the right audience (lest I be accused of shunting all responsibility.) But expireds happen and they are documented.
If anything, turning the current MLS setup into an open MLS for all to see, would help those listing agents who have the marketing tools needed to help sell a home without relying on the MLS as heavily (and don't be mistaken ... even agents who claim not to rely on MLS do so.) What the public also would see, though, is the MLS is not a panacea for a slow market. It's a broker-to-broker communication tool. Nothing more.
(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton\'s Arizona Homes |
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Sep. 1, 2006 - Protect Your Investment with an AON Sellers Home Warranty |
Homes know when you're moving. It may not be as obvious as the look on your pets' face as you are leaving on vacation - the sidelong glances, not wanting to make eye contact while making sure that you know that they know what you're doing - but homes know when you are moving. Inanimate objects they may be, but they know.
Before you dismiss this notion as the deranged ramblings of a Realtor driven mad by the market, think back on the homes you have owned and attempted to sell. The key to selling, of course, is for the home to be in as-close-to-perfect condition when the right buyer comes through the front door. And so, naturally, your home will try to sabotage the viewing by being in less than perfect condition.
Maybe a small plumbing leak will start. Or maybe an electrical outlet will decide to call it a day. Perhaps the air conditioner will quit. Or maybe the dishwasher decides the time has come for the engine to burn out.
And in all of these circumstances, you - the erstwhile former homeowner to be - gets to foot the bill to repair something on a house you already have vacated, at least in your heart if not in reality. If only there was an easier, less expensive way ...
There is.
Tobey and I, working in conjunction with Century 21 Arizona Foothills and AON, offer sellers' home warranty coverage on all of our listings. All of the major mechanical items, excluding the air conditioning, are covered under this FREE warranty for the first 90 days of any listing (and possibly longer, if necessary.) And the air conditioning can be added for only $75.
With the home warranty in place, the only expense comes if a service call is necessary and then the cost will only be $70, a far sight lower than a full-fledged repair on a major mechanical system.
What's the catch? In accepting the seller warranty, the homeowner also is agreeing to purchase a basic Home Warranty for the buyer upon the successful close of escrow. But with buyers routinely asking for home warranties, all you as the seller are promising is a negotiated item the buyer already would demand. You proactively are handing them what they'll already ask for.
Want more information on the Century 21/AON Home Warranty? Call or e-mail us today and we'll send you the details.
(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton's Arizona Homes |
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Aug. 25, 2006 - Personalized real estate listings |
NAR's most recent research shows more than three-quarters of home buyers begin their search for a new home on the Intenet.
Most of their effort goes along these lines ... go to Realtor.com, Dalton's Arizona Homes or a similar site with search capabilities, enter your criteria, sift through a couple of dozen homes they don't like to find the three they do, log off. Then they start the next day doing the same thing. Lather, rinse, repeat. And while they may find the house they want, they're spending a lot of valuable time doing it.
Tobey and I offer an easier way ... personalized search results delivered to your Inbox each morning.
We ask you your criteria and then establish a search on a personalized web site. Listings can be sorted by time on market or price, and also can be labeled as Favorities and Possibilities. And, best of all, if you don't like the look of a house, mark it as a reject and you'll never have to look at it again - it will be removed from the search.
Here's a screen shot of a sample web page:
Best of all, you can communicate your preferences to me whether it's 2 in the afternoon or 3 in the morning. There is a notes feature where you can record what you like, what you don't and what else you might like to learn about any given property.
But this isn't just for buyers ... if you're thinking about putting your home on the market, there's no better way to keep track of the market for similar homes in your own backyard.
To set yourself up for your own listings web site, simply e-mail me at info@daltonsazhomes.com with your criteria. Your search and your web site will be ready within 24-48 hours.
(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton's Arizona Homes |
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